Posted on 09/09/2007 3:12:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
MIAMI -- For the first time in a U.S. presidential campaign, candidates vying for the Democratic nomination will take part in a debate Sunday that will be broadcast across the U.S. in Spanish.
The event, held at the University of Miami and broadcast by the Univision Network, marks the Democratic candidates' recognition of the growing political muscle that the country's more than 44 million Hispanics could wield in the 2008 election.
Seven of the eight Democratic candidates will be taking part in the debate — including front-runners Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, fresh off a trip to Iraq, will not be participating in the debate.
"You used to talk about California, New York, Florida and Texas," said Harry Pachon, head of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, a Latino issues think tank. "This marks that there is now a national Latino presence, rather than a regional presence."
Sunday also marks a coming out for Univision, the fifth-most watched network in the U.S., and its top anchors, Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, co-hosts for the forum.
Both are award-winning journalists who have interviewed several U.S. presidents. They write syndicated newspaper columns, published around the country in Spanish and English. Both have also been outspoken in their support for immigration reform that includes a path to legalization for the country's 12 million illegal immigrants.
Yet Salinas and Ramos, who co-anchor the Univision's nightly newscast, remain relatively unknown to the majority of Americans.
Los Angeles native Salinas has spearheaded national voter registration efforts during the last four presidential elections, as well as public health awareness campaigns. Ramos, who was born in Mexico City, recently authored a book about the 2003 deaths of 19 illegal immigrants who suffocated in the back of a truck in Texas. He has also covered wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We are proud to be giving the candidates and the Hispanic voters a one-of-a-kind opportunity for a direct dialogue," Ramos said in a statement Friday.
Ramos and Salinas, both of whom are fluent in English, will ask their questions in Spanish. The candidates will respond in English, with their answers translated into Spanish. Viewers who want to hear the forum in English can watch it using the closed caption service on their TV.
Univision invited the Republican candidates for a similar forum, but only Sen. John McCain of Arizona accepted.
Attending a Univision forum should be a no-brainer, said Joe Garcia, executive vice president of the nonprofit NDN Network, and the head of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, which helped organize the event.
"The Hispanic community is the most significant swing constituency in American politics," Garcia said. "Univision is as important to political elections as NBC, CBS and ABC. You get invited, and you show up."
How can something only a small minority of the country understand be mainstream?
Just another sad commentary about America. We’ve got to speak in different languages to the people living here. English doesn’t cut it anymore. The “new Americans” are too lazy to learn English.
I think the babies are ganging up on ‘Speedy Richardson’!!
[X] Homosexuals (the "gay debate") [X] Hispanics (this) [X] Blacks (vote-trolling down in Selma) [ ] Women (it'll come eventually)Probably quite a few I missed.
“For the first time in a U.S. presidential campaign, candidates vying for the Democratic nomination will take part in a debate Sunday that will be broadcast across the U.S. in Spanish.”
Well isn’t that special...
Now about those biometric national ID’s that should be required to vote in national elections...I guess the Libertarian Mary’s will be along soon to voice their objections. LMAO
Lol, I think I’ll just ‘pass on comments’ and hum the song!
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Gotcher amnesty, bridge over troubled water, partying with interns while married, etc going there - all at once
Teddy loves to sing in Spanish too
Laura Ingraham, Rush, Sean Hannity play it often
The other day O’Obomber sang in Spanish for the hispanic media
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Hard to comment on this one
[Hard to comment on this one]
It was for me devolve, I was seeing a different aspect, lol.
Setting the videorecorder. There will be CHOICE quotes to use against the Democrats in the General Election that will lose them millions of votes from those fed up (there will be even more by November) with illegal immigration and the total invasion of the United States.
Oh they swing all right. Mostly from south to north over the border.
Not ready for prime time.
It was pretty good. I enjoyed watching it. Get used to it. There is no going back now. !Bienvenidos a Miami!
Can you get it without the translator speaking?
It would be great if you could upload the choice parts to Youtube while the story is still fresh, or just upload the raw video somewhere.
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